It's such a complicated process. I found out this week that Powell's ordered five copies of my short collection and it's now in their main branch, because of a secondary distributor, fantastic editor/publisher, and bookseller relationships. My second collection was never in any bookstores. It honestly didn't feel like that was a feasible goal, like they would see me as someone trying to get a baby admitted to college.
Getting a short story collection into a major (still "independent") bookstore shouldn't be such a feat. There's an entire section of Amish romances in Barnes & Noble. I write primarily short stories. Ironically, in my "day" job, I also write "Six Gorgeous Kitchen Colors to Inspire a Refresh" with embedded affiliate links. :) I am now caught in new conundrum - I've have had three published collections with growing numbers on each one. So, this has become the get an agent/query the novel year. What I discovered was - in the way I write - my short story collections are linear and related. I've been writing chapters all along BUT that isn't always the case. All novel writers are not short story writers and not all short story writers can write novels.
This sounds like the work of Casie Dodd! (and Amy Barnes!!!! The community-builder herself. You two together is a dream team).
I have to actively turn off my publishing brain in order to write creative work. It's ... ugh. It's not a great system, huh? It's like people say don't worry about the publishing part during the writing part, but how do you not worry about it? And knowing you're writing into something that folks say isn't going to sell. This is one of my problems as an agent--I knew what I was writing would never be picked up by a conglomerate or big four. I was being a weirdo, and trying to sell commercial--and that's just not where my gut or heart is.
And independent bookstores are competing with … well Amazon the giant and everyone else, so they’re carrying what sells, right? Without the promotional aspect of books (or without promotion at all)—they’re then relying on hand-selling or discovery to sell books. They have limited shelf-space and new books published every day, so it’s not just “it shouldn’t be this hard to get story collections” but why is it hard to get “speciality” genres in at all. People read Amish romance and romance in general—it’s a huge genre, so they’re supplying what is making them actual money with limited space. (The equivalent of content content content). So what’s happening is you’re proving sales and THEN bookstores are buying. It’s a lot to ask of an independent (hyper-local typically) business to just take a chance on a book, especially in a traditionally limited-sales genre. I wish writers thought a little more about the bookstore side, I do think it would also help with how we market ourselves. Why would someone in Portland want my _____ book—how can I sell them on it? It's hard on everyone! I bet they wish they could carry more weird little funky books! One day when I have a bookstore, I'll carry them. <3
It is so hard to shut off that publishing mindset. And I think there's also a rosy glow that is hanging over writing and publishing in general. I had zero initial awareness and a naivete that when a book gets published that it doesn't just wing its way to all the bookstores and a recognizable online presence. It's the Catch 22 of publishing. If your book isn't in bookstores, other bookstores (and even libraries) often don't see it as proved. Which I don't blame them for. But, also thinking if your book is online, that you can sit back and people will buy it. Someone has to tell people the book is out there -- the author, a Cassie, a Casie, a secondary distributor with another catalog, booksellers.
I also didn't mean novel/short story that harshly or polarizing :) I'm mainly thinking of the recent drama about moving from one to the other as a requirement for publishing. Not everyone can or wants to do that. The idea that writers MUST write a novel to get a short story collection considered for publication feels Herculean in its premise. Many writers do both and do it well. It's the expectation that nags at me.
Working as an editor in the short story space that often comes before a collection colors how I see that too - short fiction is sometimes I think is seen as small novels when in fact, there are a lot of elements that in the novel space don't translate well to the under 1K word or even 2,500 word space. Lengthy exposition. A lot of time or scene changes. More than a handful of characters. So many short pieces that are submitted as short fiction -- are actually really kind of like novel chapters, or an outline in prose for what the writer intends to write.
Because so many collections are compilations with varying degrees of those smaller pieces of fiction being *proven* as publishable in a whole bunch of smaller outlets than a book publisher - I found myself writing and arranging stories for a collection as I was trying to get published in journals. I found myself starting to look at potential publishers that might be interested in the overall theme the collected stories were taking.
The thing that does encourage me recently is seeing writers that I at least have a peripheral connection to -- having book deals with major publishers that are a novel AND a collection. I have hope that all of the writers, publicists (like you!) and publishers are helping swing the pendulum a little or at the very least have discussions. I still wonder about the Amish romances, especially in the land of Baptists but I've also considered trying my hand at writing one, just to get in B&N. :)
Oh my gosh, Amy, I would read your Amish romance (and anything you write haha! Speaking of, I loved your first Little Engines newsletter yesterday!!!)
This is so true, it’s momentum and some sort of like weird approval system of ohhhh they like you, okay we can like you too!
I sometimes think the lit mag world being so predominantly stories hurts the larger publishing path. There’s nothing to be done about it but I do wonder how they’re working for and against each other.
Awww -- that is very kind. Amish romance it is. The new rule of publishing: you can't get a short collection published until you've written "Sarah of the Plains Finds Love in San Francisco."
this is so smart! I am not, in general, a short story person (I share your feeling about wanting to be immersed, though I wouldn't have put it that way!) but I *loved* Julia Ridley Smith's Sex Romp Gone Wrong, which made me both cackle and cry. and I'm currently reading Margo Steines's Brutalities, which is *such* a great essay collection.
I love the cover of Julia’s book (and I love Blair too) and obviously I am biased to Margo since Brutalities is a Pine State book but it’s really SO GOOD. SO SO SO.
I have a postcard of Julia's book and have been using as a bookmark/to embarrass my children because it's so perfect. I thought you'd worked on Brutalities but couldn't remember -- it's so so good!
I'm reading Julia's book right now...so smart and funny. Though...I confess that at one point I was wishing that I wasn't at the end of a particular story, that there was the rest of a novel ahead.
Ahhhhhh the worst / best thing to hear about a story collection, I really loved in Meghan Mayhew Bergman’s last collection that it ended in this intense novella! I want more of that!
I'm starting Julia Ridley Smith's book and doing a panel with her through The Porch in Nashville later this month. I also had the pleasure of sitting with Blair editor on the plane to AWP. It was enlightening to get her perspective on collections and novels, and publishing in general. She was a little trapped (maybe both of them as The Porch arranged the panel) but interesting to see the weaving of an established independent press and a fantastic short story collection.
I’m thinking of the story collections that have really taken off—say, Her Body and Other Parties, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies—and yes they definitely have a novel-y theme that makes for more straightforward publicizing
Hooks will always be better for publishers than books that are “in the read” without something buzzy. Extra points when a book is both like Her Body and Other Parties!
Appreciate all this, as I toil away on getting together another (linked) story collection that I might just call a novel. And yeah...I'd love to see a short story collection shelf in a bookstore!
Love this post. I wrote a short story collection for my MFA Thesis (several were published, but I didn't have luck with the collection as a whole). Still, I loved the format so much that one year (before I had a husband, a mortgage, a child), I made a New Years resolution to read one short story per day. Good news: I did it! Bad news: I overdosed - it put me off the genre for many years - after that intense experience, I didn't want short, snappy. I didn't want anything tied up in a bow and I didn't want anything to remain unresolved either. What I wanted was that immersion you reference, to tuck in, sail away and fully escape with a longform story. Now almost two decades later, though I mostly write nonfiction, I've staring tinkering with a few of my old short stories and, fortunately, I can read short stories again, linked or not. I can see the beauty of dipping in and out, catching an author's overall vibe even though the characters and settings might change from one piece to the next. On that note. I recently enjoyed Ronit Plank's "Home is a Made-up Place" and Nicole Haroutunian's "Choose This Now." The work of Amy Barnes is on my list. Thanks for your insights on this topic and others Cassie.
Oh my gosh, a story a day!!!! I can barely keep up with my five year journal everyday and it's only writing four lines into a little book. Reading a story a day, while I think a great challenge, I just know I would start to resent them. I'd love to do this with essays though, ha. I do love thinking about story collections as vibey--or leaning into vibes with change than a total immersion. I'll have to read Ronit's book--I love her podcast. I have not read anything from Nicole, I'll look her up! Thanks, Jocelyn!
It's such a complicated process. I found out this week that Powell's ordered five copies of my short collection and it's now in their main branch, because of a secondary distributor, fantastic editor/publisher, and bookseller relationships. My second collection was never in any bookstores. It honestly didn't feel like that was a feasible goal, like they would see me as someone trying to get a baby admitted to college.
Getting a short story collection into a major (still "independent") bookstore shouldn't be such a feat. There's an entire section of Amish romances in Barnes & Noble. I write primarily short stories. Ironically, in my "day" job, I also write "Six Gorgeous Kitchen Colors to Inspire a Refresh" with embedded affiliate links. :) I am now caught in new conundrum - I've have had three published collections with growing numbers on each one. So, this has become the get an agent/query the novel year. What I discovered was - in the way I write - my short story collections are linear and related. I've been writing chapters all along BUT that isn't always the case. All novel writers are not short story writers and not all short story writers can write novels.
This sounds like the work of Casie Dodd! (and Amy Barnes!!!! The community-builder herself. You two together is a dream team).
I have to actively turn off my publishing brain in order to write creative work. It's ... ugh. It's not a great system, huh? It's like people say don't worry about the publishing part during the writing part, but how do you not worry about it? And knowing you're writing into something that folks say isn't going to sell. This is one of my problems as an agent--I knew what I was writing would never be picked up by a conglomerate or big four. I was being a weirdo, and trying to sell commercial--and that's just not where my gut or heart is.
And independent bookstores are competing with … well Amazon the giant and everyone else, so they’re carrying what sells, right? Without the promotional aspect of books (or without promotion at all)—they’re then relying on hand-selling or discovery to sell books. They have limited shelf-space and new books published every day, so it’s not just “it shouldn’t be this hard to get story collections” but why is it hard to get “speciality” genres in at all. People read Amish romance and romance in general—it’s a huge genre, so they’re supplying what is making them actual money with limited space. (The equivalent of content content content). So what’s happening is you’re proving sales and THEN bookstores are buying. It’s a lot to ask of an independent (hyper-local typically) business to just take a chance on a book, especially in a traditionally limited-sales genre. I wish writers thought a little more about the bookstore side, I do think it would also help with how we market ourselves. Why would someone in Portland want my _____ book—how can I sell them on it? It's hard on everyone! I bet they wish they could carry more weird little funky books! One day when I have a bookstore, I'll carry them. <3
It is so hard to shut off that publishing mindset. And I think there's also a rosy glow that is hanging over writing and publishing in general. I had zero initial awareness and a naivete that when a book gets published that it doesn't just wing its way to all the bookstores and a recognizable online presence. It's the Catch 22 of publishing. If your book isn't in bookstores, other bookstores (and even libraries) often don't see it as proved. Which I don't blame them for. But, also thinking if your book is online, that you can sit back and people will buy it. Someone has to tell people the book is out there -- the author, a Cassie, a Casie, a secondary distributor with another catalog, booksellers.
I also didn't mean novel/short story that harshly or polarizing :) I'm mainly thinking of the recent drama about moving from one to the other as a requirement for publishing. Not everyone can or wants to do that. The idea that writers MUST write a novel to get a short story collection considered for publication feels Herculean in its premise. Many writers do both and do it well. It's the expectation that nags at me.
Working as an editor in the short story space that often comes before a collection colors how I see that too - short fiction is sometimes I think is seen as small novels when in fact, there are a lot of elements that in the novel space don't translate well to the under 1K word or even 2,500 word space. Lengthy exposition. A lot of time or scene changes. More than a handful of characters. So many short pieces that are submitted as short fiction -- are actually really kind of like novel chapters, or an outline in prose for what the writer intends to write.
Because so many collections are compilations with varying degrees of those smaller pieces of fiction being *proven* as publishable in a whole bunch of smaller outlets than a book publisher - I found myself writing and arranging stories for a collection as I was trying to get published in journals. I found myself starting to look at potential publishers that might be interested in the overall theme the collected stories were taking.
The thing that does encourage me recently is seeing writers that I at least have a peripheral connection to -- having book deals with major publishers that are a novel AND a collection. I have hope that all of the writers, publicists (like you!) and publishers are helping swing the pendulum a little or at the very least have discussions. I still wonder about the Amish romances, especially in the land of Baptists but I've also considered trying my hand at writing one, just to get in B&N. :)
Oh my gosh, Amy, I would read your Amish romance (and anything you write haha! Speaking of, I loved your first Little Engines newsletter yesterday!!!)
This is so true, it’s momentum and some sort of like weird approval system of ohhhh they like you, okay we can like you too!
I sometimes think the lit mag world being so predominantly stories hurts the larger publishing path. There’s nothing to be done about it but I do wonder how they’re working for and against each other.
B&N is coming for you! It WILL happen!
Awww -- that is very kind. Amish romance it is. The new rule of publishing: you can't get a short collection published until you've written "Sarah of the Plains Finds Love in San Francisco."
Hahahaha can you IMAGINE?? The variety of Sarah of the Plains!
I love your writing, Amy!
Right back at you, Heather! :)
you've made my day :)
Same! The past few months have felt so long and dreary.
this is so smart! I am not, in general, a short story person (I share your feeling about wanting to be immersed, though I wouldn't have put it that way!) but I *loved* Julia Ridley Smith's Sex Romp Gone Wrong, which made me both cackle and cry. and I'm currently reading Margo Steines's Brutalities, which is *such* a great essay collection.
I love the cover of Julia’s book (and I love Blair too) and obviously I am biased to Margo since Brutalities is a Pine State book but it’s really SO GOOD. SO SO SO.
I have a postcard of Julia's book and have been using as a bookmark/to embarrass my children because it's so perfect. I thought you'd worked on Brutalities but couldn't remember -- it's so so good!
I'm reading Julia's book right now...so smart and funny. Though...I confess that at one point I was wishing that I wasn't at the end of a particular story, that there was the rest of a novel ahead.
I agree! I loved the hot tub story, for example, and would totally follow those women into a whole novel.
Ahhhhhh the worst / best thing to hear about a story collection, I really loved in Meghan Mayhew Bergman’s last collection that it ended in this intense novella! I want more of that!
Me too!!
Loved her bird collection - I think your recommendation to me! Also, ended up chatting with her. So talented.
So, so talented. And I can’t remember if she’s written a novel or not but I think not? Maybe nonfiction? (Def nonfiction journalism but in book form!)
I'm starting Julia Ridley Smith's book and doing a panel with her through The Porch in Nashville later this month. I also had the pleasure of sitting with Blair editor on the plane to AWP. It was enlightening to get her perspective on collections and novels, and publishing in general. She was a little trapped (maybe both of them as The Porch arranged the panel) but interesting to see the weaving of an established independent press and a fantastic short story collection.
I’m thinking of the story collections that have really taken off—say, Her Body and Other Parties, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies—and yes they definitely have a novel-y theme that makes for more straightforward publicizing
Hooks will always be better for publishers than books that are “in the read” without something buzzy. Extra points when a book is both like Her Body and Other Parties!
Appreciate all this, as I toil away on getting together another (linked) story collection that I might just call a novel. And yeah...I'd love to see a short story collection shelf in a bookstore!
It’s hard work and the reward is … a guessing game! Though I do see your collection pop up all the time in my searches! So that’s always fun!
Hi Cassie -- great post, as always! I think you know how much I adore short story collections :-)
Love this post. I wrote a short story collection for my MFA Thesis (several were published, but I didn't have luck with the collection as a whole). Still, I loved the format so much that one year (before I had a husband, a mortgage, a child), I made a New Years resolution to read one short story per day. Good news: I did it! Bad news: I overdosed - it put me off the genre for many years - after that intense experience, I didn't want short, snappy. I didn't want anything tied up in a bow and I didn't want anything to remain unresolved either. What I wanted was that immersion you reference, to tuck in, sail away and fully escape with a longform story. Now almost two decades later, though I mostly write nonfiction, I've staring tinkering with a few of my old short stories and, fortunately, I can read short stories again, linked or not. I can see the beauty of dipping in and out, catching an author's overall vibe even though the characters and settings might change from one piece to the next. On that note. I recently enjoyed Ronit Plank's "Home is a Made-up Place" and Nicole Haroutunian's "Choose This Now." The work of Amy Barnes is on my list. Thanks for your insights on this topic and others Cassie.
Oh my gosh, a story a day!!!! I can barely keep up with my five year journal everyday and it's only writing four lines into a little book. Reading a story a day, while I think a great challenge, I just know I would start to resent them. I'd love to do this with essays though, ha. I do love thinking about story collections as vibey--or leaning into vibes with change than a total immersion. I'll have to read Ronit's book--I love her podcast. I have not read anything from Nicole, I'll look her up! Thanks, Jocelyn!